Transportation minister says Mainroad Contracting was not negligent

Fog, black ice and accidents play havoc with traffic on the Port Mann Bridge Thursday morning in Surrey.

Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost
, PNG

B.C.’s transportation minister says the 40 drivers involved in the mayhem on the Port Mann Bridge Thursday will not be forgiven their tolls or given compensation because the bridge maintenance contractor did nothing wrong.

Mary Polak said the province has reviewed the work of Mainroad Contracting, which has a contract with Transportation Investment Corp. to maintain the Port Mann Bridge, and found it was not negligent. She said Mainroad followed the standard procedure and applied a saltwater brine to the bridge at 4 a.m. on Jan. 2 — which was expected to be effective for 48 hours — and did “vigorous patrols” between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Thursday.

“There’s nothing they’ve done that they were negligent in,” Polak said. “There’s nothing with respect to what they did that they could have predicted what did happen with any certainty.”

Polak’s comments come a day after TI Corp. — the Crown agency that operates the provincially owned bridge — said that despite the measures taken by Mainroad, there was insufficient de-icing on the bridge. The agency ordered that a saltwater solution be applied daily to the bridge as well as salt when needed.

Drivers described the bridge deck, especially the HOV lane, as a “skating rink.”

Kevin Dahl, who was travelling westbound across the bridge at about 5:40 a.m., said he slowed down after encountering thick fog as he approached the crest of the bridge. Dahl, who was in the HOV lane, said he had already passed a pileup involving 10 to 15 cars and was travelling below the speed limit when he first noticed the brake lights in the fog. As he coasted toward them, he noticed more lights and started to brake, but it caused him to fishtail.

“I fishtailed for probably 200 feet before I got into my accident,” he said. “There was someone who had stopped right beside the HOV lane. Right near the end I tried to turn right, but I had no traction so I started sliding sideways and hit guy in the middle of the trunk.”

As he got to out to see if the driver was OK, Dahl started sliding on the deck and almost fell over. “I couldn’t believe how icy the bridge was,” he said.

Insurance Corp. of B.C. spokesman Adam Grossman said he expects about 40 claims to be filed.

Polak argues that neither the province nor the contractor is responsible for the crashes, because there’s nothing to indicate they were related to the design of the bridge. She said Thursday’s situation involves a combination of factors, including black ice, dense fog at the time of the crash and faster speeds on the bridge.

“People are able to reach speeds on the bridge at rush hour they never were before,” Polak said. “As with any type of crash, there’s a number of different causes and issues at play. This is unfortunately just the kind of circumstance people encounter on the road ... chain reactions result in large numbers of claims.”

She said the black ice is a reminder that winter driving conditions are here, and motorists should be prepared.

Mainroad, which has a contract with TI Corp. to maintain the Port Mann Bridge as well as Highway 1 from 200 Street in Langley to McGill Street in Vancouver, said Thursday it was instructed not to speak with the media.

TI Corp. spokesman Max Logan said Mainroad won the bid for the contract, which stipulated that it would prevent the accumulation of ice on the road and bridge.

Mainroad also has a multi-year contract with the province to maintain provincial roads and bridges, including the Lion’s Gate Bridge and Massey Tunnel, as well as TransLink’s Pattullo, Knight Street and Westham Island bridges.

TransLink spokesman Drew Snider said there were no problems with TransLink’s bridges Thursday. The Golden Ears Bridge, which is maintained by a separate company, was wet but not frozen, he said, but noted it didn’t have the same fog as the Port Mann Bridge.

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